A New Beginning: My Journey with Addy

When the class starts to come in from recess, I roll up my pages and stick them in a corner of the cloakroom. I want to work a little more on the drawings, but I don’t want Addy to see the surprise until it’s finished.

The rest of the afternoon passes quickly as we study history and arithmetic. At the end, Miss Dunn leads a grammar lesson. She asks what an adjective is, and several hands shoot up in the air. But Miss Dunn calls on Sarah. Sarah frowns in concentration at the word on the chalkboard, “Tall,” and then unhappily shakes her head.

In front of her, Harriet is pumping her hand up and down. Miss Dunn nods at Harriet, and she rises, saying that an adjective is a word that describes a noun. At Miss Dunn’s approval, Harriet sits again, then turns to Sarah and whispers that “smart” is an adjective too.

Sarah looks hurt. I tell Harriet that “nice” is one as well. But she wouldn’t know what that means. With a sigh, Addy tells Harriet to leave Sarah alone. Harriet just gives a smug look and turns back to the front of the class.

After school is done, Addy, Sarah, and I wait until Harriet is out of the cloakroom to get our things. I tuck the pages of the book under my shawl when Addy isn’t looking.

On the way home, Addy says that she can’t stand it when Harriet is so mean to Sarah. Sarah shrugs and says she doesn’t pay no mind to Harriet. She just likes to hear herself talk. Addy says it isn’t right what Harriet said. Sarah has been helping Addy ever since she came to freedom. Sarah smiles and says she didn’t do much cause Addy was already so smart. Addy insists that Sarah is smart as well.

Sarah shakes her head and says she could be if she studied more, but helping her momma with laundry work comes first. I ask Sarah when she helps with laundry, and she says before and after school, and on Saturdays too. Sometimes she stays home all day to help, since the more washing her momma takes in, the better, and even though her poppa is working, they still need the money.

I can tell from Sarah’s face that she wishes things could be different. I think about the kids we saw this morning who were going to jobs instead of school. It all makes me so sad. I think again about Gran telling me what a great opportunity I have to go to school. I really am lucky.